Former Blagojevich lawyer joins Jacksons' legal team

Former Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. and his wife, former Chicago alderman Sandi Jackson, have hired a team of eight lawyers as they prepare for sentencing. (Zbigniew Bzdak, Chicago Tribune)

WASHINGTON — Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and his wife have assembled a formidable team of eight lawyers assisting in their defense as they prepare for sentencing July 3, court filings show.

He has five lawyers and she has three, including a recent addition: Chicago attorney Carolyn Pelling Gurland, who on Thursday asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to be allowed to appear on her behalf.

Gurland, who specializes in sentencing, joined former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's legal team before he was given a 14-year term in 2011. Another previous client: once-imprisoned media mogul Conrad Black.

Talking about the Jacksons, an outside expert said the going rate for defense lawyers in high-profile white-collar cases in major cities is in the $400- to $900-an-hour range.

Yet court papers filed last week by Jackson Jr.'s lawyers said the couple "lost its only sources of income" after he and his wife, Sandi Jackson, a former Chicago alderman, resigned from office.

The expert, Paul Rothstein, a Georgetown University law professor who tracks public-corruption cases and knows some of the Jacksons' lawyers, said elected officials who find themselves on the wrong side of the law sometimes can get reduced rates — or hire attorneys pro bono, meaning for free — because of the attendant publicity.

"Part of the motivation in high-profile cases involving politicians is always the publicity that the lawyer will get, which is of great value to lawyers in getting future clients," Rothstein said.

In fact, some of Jackson Jr.'s lawyers are volunteers.

Jackson Jr., 48, looted his campaign treasury of about $750,000 and spent it on luxury goods, celebrity memorabilia, vacations, bar bills and other items. Sandi Jackson, 49, failed to report more than $600,000 in income on tax returns over many years.

Prosecutors want them to go to prison, recommending four years for him and 18 months for her, with staggered terms so their children, ages 9 and 13, would not be without a parent. The defense attorneys in both cases have asked for leniency, requesting probation for her and a below-the-guidelines sentence for him.

Dan Webb, a former U.S. attorney in Chicago, is leading Sandi Jackson's defense team with Thomas Kirsch II. They are partners at Winston & Strawn in Chicago.

Webb acknowledged Thursday that he, Kirsch and Gurland represent the ex-alderman but turned aside questions about what her defense will cost and whether she will have difficulty footing the bill. "It would not be appropriate for me to comment," Webb wrote in an email Thursday.

Three of Jackson Jr.'s lawyers work for Steptoe & Johnson in Washington. They are Reid Weingarten, a partner and a former prosecutor in the Justice Department's public integrity unit; Brian Heberlig, a partner who heads the firm's white-collar criminal defense practice group; and William Drake, an associate. They did not respond to requests for comment.

His team is rounded out by two other lawyers, Harvard University law professor Charles Ogletree and Atlanta lawyer Tricia "C.K." Hoffler, both of whom are working for free, Ogletree said.

"Ms. Hoffler and I are longtime friends of Jesse Jr. and his family, and our services are entirely pro bono," Ogletree said in an email Thursday.

Hoffler, according to her firm's website, specializes in medical malpractice, wrongful death and other cases.

At Georgetown, Rothstein said the Jacksons' lawyers definitely were skilled at legal, political and public relations advice. When asked how Gurland fared representing Blagojevich, he said: "I don't think Blagojevich handled himself very well, but as frequently happens in these high-profile political cases, he was probably an unmanageable client."

When Jackson Jr. pleaded guilty in February, as his wife did, he had additional help, including crisis communications expert Judy Smith, a former federal prosecutor whose work in managing crises inspired the ABC-TV drama "Scandal." Her firm's past clients include Monica Lewinsky and NFL quarterback Michael Vick.

Smith and her partner, Chris Garrett, did not return requests for comment on whether they still work for Jackson Jr.

Pursuing the case against the Jacksons are five prosecutors in the U.S. attorney's office for the District of Columbia. They are Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matt Graves, Michael Atkinson and Jonathan Haray, in the office's fraud and public corruption unit, and Catherine Connelly and Anthony Saler, in the asset forfeiture and money laundering unit.